World Chess C’ship: Anand & Gelfand play draw in Rd 1

Moscow: It was an interesting choice by Boris Gelfand to play the Grunfeld defence against reigning World Chess Champion Viswanathan Anand’s Queen pawn Opening in the very first game of the World Chess Championship which began at the State Tretyakov Gallery in Moscow.

The game however ended in a draw after 24 moves with Anand appearing calm and comfortable. Anand had lost the first game of the World Chess Championship at Sofia in 2010 after adopting the Grunfeld Defence with the Black pieces against Veselin Topalov.

Anand later commented, “After the queens were swapped, the game more or less appeared to be heading towards a draw,” even as he was questioned by the media about the position favouring Gelfand.

The Israeli GM replied in jest that computers might have favoured his position more than the experts and more or less agreed that a draw was a fine result.

It was more or less like a preliminary skirmish where the opponents tried to test and poke a little to check out each other’s preparation.

Game focussed on the Queen side even as Anand castled and Gelfand’s King was in the centre. Gelfand’s Queen ventured deep into Anand’s territory but was forced back by Anand and then exchanged off on the 18th turn.

After 24 moves Gelfand did possess a bishop pair but the World Champion had things under control and the players shook hands and indulged in some light analysis before calling it a day.


The NIIT MindChampion aiming for a his fifth title will play with the Black pieces on Saturday night in this 12 Game Match series where the player reaching 6.5 points will be crowned champion.